


To Fix The Broken

by HopelessNights



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-26
Updated: 2016-09-26
Packaged: 2018-08-17 08:52:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8137937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopelessNights/pseuds/HopelessNights
Summary: Barry loses everyone he cares about, so he travels back in time to fix it.





	

Barry gritted his teeth. Only five more minutes of this, then it would be over and done with. He’d be gone in a flash with nothing but the memories of what occurred this night. 

 

He felt heavy. It wasn’t just exhaustion, he realized. It was also guilt—guilt for not being able to save _them_. He dodged an oncoming blast from a familiar weapon. He narrowed his eyes at the man that stood before him with a cold smirk on his face. He couldn’t help but briefly wonder what had happened. Why had things come to this? He dodged another blast. That seemed to be all he could do—just dodge. He couldn’t bring himself to fight back. No, Barry thought to himself, this isn’t Cold’s fault. This situation—it was all on Barry. He caused this. If only he hadn’t…

 

Another blast from the cold gun had Barry jumping to the far left. The cold air around him had him moving slower than normal. Or maybe it was just his exhaustion with just about everything. He tried. He had tried so damn hard. Why had things turned out this way? This wasn’t what he had wanted. He felt a shot of ice graze his right arm, causing him to jerk away. Cold was laughing maniacally.

 

Two more minutes, Barry thought. He felt heavier with every passing second. He wanted to make things better, but he made things worse. Cold was becoming more determined to land a hit on the speedster. Barry pushed himself harder. One more minute. He couldn’t let it end here. He couldn’t. As the final seconds passed, Barry allowed himself to slow.

 

“I’m sorry,” the hero whispered, watching Cold’s eyes widen a fraction. The speedster was gone before the man could blink.

 

If only he hadn’t gone through time…

 

Everything could’ve been avoided, really. If only Barry had been more careful. If only he had been more alert. He could have prevented all of this! His eyes stung, but he ignored it. Instead, he focused his thoughts on what had happened.

 

It was another usual day. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Barry had a bad feeling though. When he woke up that morning, something felt wrong. However, he pushed the feeling aside as soon Iris entered his room to ask him if he wanted to tag along with her and Eddie. He declined. That was his first mistake.

 

He had work, though. Also, he didn’t want to be a third wheel. He didn’t want to intrude on their date. He knew that Eddie had planned something big this time. The man had told him. Barry noticed how nervous and happy the man was. He didn’t want to ruin whatever plans Eddie had made. He went to work without another thought. 

 

A few hours into work, Joe stopped by to ask Barry if he wanted to go to Jitters to get a drink. Barry turned down the offer because he wanted to finish up a few more reports. He wanted to take the time he could to make up for the times he had to leave work for hero-ing. Joe smiled and nodded, before leaving Barry to it. That was his second mistake.

 

Caitlin and Cisco had called him after he finished wrapping things up at work. He was heading out of the building when his phone went off.

 

“Hey,” he answered.

 

“Barry!”

 

“Hey Barry!” 

 

Cisco and Caitlin yelled into the phone at the same time. Barry winced and pulled the phone slightly away from his ear. His friends were drunk it seemed. Or at least Caitlin was.

 

“You want ta party with us?” Caitlin slurred.

 

“Yeah, we’re heading to a club right now,” Cisco laughed as Barry heard something crash. He heard Caitlin’s incoherent muttering of how the desk moved.

 

“Umm,” Barry hummed. He was about to agree, but then he remembered something that he had to do. “Sorry guys. Maybe next time.”

 

“Aw!” He could practically hear Caitlin’s pout over the phone. “But we had so much fun last time!”

 

Barry chuckled. They said their goodbyes and Barry hung up. He felt a sudden sense of dread. He shook it off and headed home, thinking nothing of it. That was his third mistake.

 

Everything went downhill from there.

 

While Iris and Eddie were on their date, a serial killer from a different city had arrived in Central City. The man had killed Iris when she intercepted his attack towards a little girl no older than seven. Eddie had tried to restrain the man, but he was struck with the horror of seeing the woman he loved dying before his eyes. Distracted, Eddie fell victim to the murderer as well. The man was arrested shortly after, but… _Iris_. _Eddie_. Barry couldn’t believe his ears when he walked into his workplace that day.

 

Barry felt numb at the loss. However, he knew something else was up. Something else…Something bad.

 

He was right.

 

Joe was kidnapped after exiting Jitters the day before. Some woman who had a grudge against the detective for the arrest of her husband. She tortured him before killing him. The scene was awful. Barry felt sick when he had walked into the room where Joe’s corpse had been. The detective’s blood painted the walls a dark shade of red. Burn marks from acid decorated the floor. A long piece of rope hung from the side of the chair Joe had been tied to. Images flashed through his mind. Joe’s smiling face. Joe’s look of pride in his daughter—in Barry. Joe’s face crumbling in fear. Joe’s begs for the torture to stop. Joe’s blood spilling onto the floor. Joe’s eyes dimming as he lost hope. Joe’s body shutting down. Joe’s eyes losing it’s light as his life was drained out of him. Joe—the man who had raised him, the man that was as much of a father to him as his biological father—had suffered this cruelty. Joe was gone. He was dead. He was never coming back.

 

Barry felt the crushing weight of reality. Iris. Eddie. Joe. All of them—gone. He felt his eyes sting, yet he had the feeling that this wasn’t near finished. No…He had too much to lose.

 

And he was right, again.

 

At that moment, Barry wished he could have been wrong. Why couldn’t he be wrong? He stared through blurred vision at the scene that met him as he entered S.T.A.R. Labs. Cisco was unmoving on the floor, facing upwards towards the ceiling. Barry caught sight of a grievous wound on his friend’s stomach. He had bled out, Barry thought. There was a trail of blood that led to where Cisco’s body was. Caitlin had crawled all the way over to him. She was holding his hand in death. Her legs had deep, ugly gashes on them. Her left arm was dislocated.

 

Apparently there had been a meta-human who had the ability of paralysis. The meta-human had entered the lab as his friends prepared to leave, then proceeded to kill Barry’s friends. A deep loss struck Barry. His tears fell freely down his face. He had never felt so empty in his entire life. He never felt as much of a damn _failure_ as at that moment.

 

He had lost Iris, Eddie, Joe, Cisco, and Caitlin all within one day. He lost everyone. He didn’t even notice that he had walked over to his friends’ dead bodies until he fell to his knees into the puddle of dried blood. He sobbed loudly as he looked into the faces of his deceased friends. Why? _Why?_

 

Barry wasn’t certain of how much time passed when he finally made to leave. He felt so numb. He was so out of it, he didn’t know how he made it back home in one piece. He fell onto his bed and closed his eyes.

 

It was all a nightmare. This isn’t real, he repeated in his head.

 

“When I wake up, they’ll all be here,” he whispered into the deafening silence of the house. Tears started to build up in his eyes again. He knew that this was real. They _were_ all dead. Nothing could change that—

 

He shot up into a sitting position, his eyes widened in realization. There _was_ something he could do! He could do what he was made to do: run. He could run through time and _save_ them. In a flash, Barry was at S.T.A.R. Labs in his suit.

 

And then he ran.

 

He ran so fast—faster than ever before. He ran and ran and ran.

 

Then he appeared in a time where things were _worse_ —because _of course_ he would. Sure, Iris and Eddie were alive, but they were criminals. They had lost their minds. They were insane. They had been experimented on after the particle accelerator exploded. Many peopler were experimented on after that incident in this timeline. Joe was murdered as he had tried to protect Iris from being taken.

 

Caitlin was alive, though not quite. She was in a coma. She had been in a coma since the incident occurred. She, too, was being experimented on.

 

Cisco was fighting back with a small group of meta-humans who still had a bit of hope in them. Cisco was alive and well. Maybe not completely well, but compared to the others? Yeah. He was good.

 

Barry hadn’t made things better. No, he made things worse. They were living horrible lives. Hell, they weren’t living at all. Central City—this Central City—was full of devastation. Barry had to fix things.

 

The speedster hadn’t been expecting to run into his enemy in this timeline, but he did. Cold stared him down, cold gun in hand. He didn’t say anything at all; he just aimed and fired.

 

Lisa had died in the particle accelerator explosion. Snart was out on a personal vendetta to kill all meta-humans as well as the people who worked at S.T.A.R. Labs.

 

Barry had gotten himself into this mess. He _caused_ this.

 

“This is all your fault,” Snart shouted. “You’re no hero! _You_ got my sister killed. She died for this.”

 

Barry knew that Snart was blinded by his anger. He was blaming the victims of the particle accelerator explosion because they were the results that the people of S.T.A.R. Labs were hoping for.

 

Barry knew that he had to fix everything. He hadn’t fixed anything at all with this run. He hadn’t fixed anything at all.

 

As the minutes counted down, Barry prepared for his next run. Feeling heavy, he wondered if he’d make it—if he’d fix anything.

 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. Then he ran. The image of Snart’s expression flashed through his mind before he shook it off and focused on his task. He ran, ignoring the heavy feeling that escalated with every step he took. He closed his eyes tightly, blew out a harsh breath, opened his eyes, and _ran_.

 

A bone deep exhaustion filled him. His eyes grew heavy, but he pushed onward. He ran until his vision went black and his consciousness faded away.

 

Barry awoke to the sound of a familiar voice.

 

“—ry…Red…Hey, come on. Scarlet.”

 

The speedster opened his eyes, then immediately closed them, letting out a groan at the blinding light he had caught a glimpse of. Opening his eyes slowly, he stared up at the eyes of the criminal. Was that concern in the thief’s eyes?

 

“Snart?” Barry coughed out. He sat up and looked around. Was he lying on a road? “Where—?”

 

“On a road to Central City,” Snart replied as he stood up. At Barry’s questioning look, the older man sighed. “I was heading back to Central City and found you laying on the ground here. What happened?”

 

“I—What? Wait…Umm…How long has it…What day…I mean—ugh! Never mind. I have to go. I need to see—Thanks, Snart. Really. Thank you, but I have to go,” Barry bumbled, waving his arms around in a frantic motion. Snart blinked at him, opening his mouth to say something, but Barry was gone within the second.

 

“Well then,” Snart drawled, as he stared down the empty road. “I guess no lift from the Flash.”

 

When Barry arrived at Central City, he headed home immediately. His heart hammering away in his chest as hope filled him. Could they be okay? Could they be alive? He reached for the door before opening it slowly.

 

The speedster was met with silence.

 

“J-Joe? Iris?” He called out hesitantly. A beat. No answer. He tried again.

 

“Barry?” Came a reply. Barry let out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding. Relief filled him as Iris walked into his view, Joe following closely behind.

 

“Where were you?” Joe asked with a concerned expression. “I called you two hours ago. You said you would be here for dinner.”

 

“Barry? Are you alright?” Iris asked. Barry blinked.

 

“Yeah I’m alright. Why?”

 

“Barr…You’re crying,” Iris whispered. The speedster blinked again, then let out a startled laugh at the stinging feeling in his eyes.

 

“It’s nothing. Really,” he reassured them. They didn’t look too assured, but let it slide.

 

“Well, dinner’s still on the table, albeit rather cold,” Joe informed.

 

“Food sounds good,” Barry replied, his stomach growling as he spoke. He flushed in embarrassment. He decided to eat quickly so that he could check on everyone else.

 

“Hey. I’ve got to go do something real quick,” he told them as he finished cleaning up. Then, he left.

 

First, he checked in on Eddie. The man was alive and well. Barry sighed in relief before running to S.T.A.R. Labs. Cisco and Caitlin were there. They, too, were alive. They conversed for a period of time before Barry left.

 

He fixed things. Everyone was alive. Everyone was okay. He felt tears build up again. He cried and laughed as he stood alone in an empty grassy area. Or at least he thought he was alone.

 

“Scarlet?” Barry turned around to come face to face with the thief who he had left on the deserted road earlier. Barry quickly wiped his face clean to hide any evidence of him crying.

 

“Snart? What are you doing here?” Barry questioned. The criminal ignored his questions, and instead, asked his own.

 

“Were you… _crying_? What’s wrong?” Snart asked. Barry stood still for a moment. He was almost certain that he had heard concern laced in Snart’s voice, but that couldn’t be. Snart hated him.

 

_“This is all your fault!”_

 

Barry stumbled back, away from Snart as the words flashed through his mind. He glanced frantically around. No, he thought, this couldn’t be fake. Everyone was fine. They had to be. He wasn’t in _that_ timeline anymore. Or the timeline prior.

 

“Hey, Scarlet!” Snart called out. He reached out to grab the speedster by the arm. As soon as the thief made contact, Barry calmed down. This _was_ real.

 

“Snart—”

 

“Len.”

 

“—I…Len, I…I…”

 

“Hey. Take a deep breath and let it go,” Snart—no—Len commanded. Barry did so.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

“Don’t,” Len stated. “Come on. Let’s get you home.”

 

“But…I…”

 

“Don’t force yourself, Red,” Len said, taking Barry by the arm. The criminal dragged him to his motorcycle.

 

“I don’t want to go home…At least not yet,” Barry mumbled. Len looked at him for a moment, and then nodded.

 

“Alright,” he said.

 

Somehow, they ended up at one of Cold’s safe houses. Barry wondered why the thief would take him to one. Weren’t they supposed to be enemies? Why would Snart show his enemy the location of one of his hideouts? Barry tried not to think too much into it.

 

Barry sat on a comfortable looking couch, and watched Snart walk into another room only to return a few moments later with drinks in both hands.

 

“Oh…,” Barry mumbled, noticing that it was alcohol as he grabbed one glass from Snart’s hand. He decided not to talk about his powers causing him to not feel the affect of alcohol as he took a sip.

 

“So? You feeling any better?” Snart asked after taking a gulp of his own drink. Barry sighed and shrugged.

 

“I…I just…Well, let’s just say that these two days haven’t been that great,” Barry grunted. He felt so exhausted all of a sudden. Sinking into the couch, he swirled the liquid in the glass, glancing occasionally at the thief seated beside him.

 

“Hm,” Snart hummed, drinking the rest of the alcohol from his glass. Then he placed the glass on the table in front of the couch.

 

“I…It’s just…Yesterday, I woke up with a horrible feeling—a feeling that something awful was going to happen. I just ignored that feeling throughout the entire day. Long story short—I lost everyone that day. Everyone. Iris, Eddie, Joe, Caitlin, and Cisco. I found out the next morning when I arrived at work. I couldn’t believe it. I also had to do _something_ to fix all of it. It was my fault! So, I did the only thing I could think of—I ran. I ran until I ended up in a different timeline. It was awful, Snar—Len,” Barry recounted everything that happened, explaining that timeline to Snart.

 

“Sounds harsh,” Snart commented. “So I was still a criminal?”

 

“Of course _that’s_ the only thing you catch out of everything I said,” Barry sighed.

 

“Nah, Red. I was just messing with you,” the thief stated, patting him lightly on the shoulder. Barry stood up suddenly, startling Cold.

 

“I think I’m going to go now,” the hero stated, moving towards the door. His arm was grabbed, causing him to pause in his step. He turned around to face Cold.

 

“Look kid, I’m sorry I’m not very good at all of this,” he motioned around him, “comforting kind of stuff. It’s not something I’m that great at. So, I’m sorry I’m doing this all wrong. But, I _am_ concerned about you.”

 

Barry smiled softly at the thief. “Thanks.”

 

Silence fell around them as they stood still, staring at one another. Barry felt a bit uncomfortable, so he shifted so that Snart’s hand fell from his arm. The speedster walked over to the couch and plopped back down.

 

“I just…I just have this feeling that all of this isn’t real—that I’m going to wake up any second to realize that they are still all dead,” Barry whispered.

 

“But this is real, Scarlet,” Len stated. “This is real. You are here with me. Your friends and family are safe. What happened then, didn’t happen in this timeline. Here, everyone is fine. You’re fine.”

 

Barry blinked at the thief before a slow smile spread across his face. Those words were all he needed.

 

“You can stay the night—if you want,” Len rushed out, looking away from the hero. Barry was almost positive that he caught sight of a slight blush on the thief’s face.

 

“I…Thanks,” Barry mumbled. “Really. I mean it. Thank you. I don’t know why you care…But…Thanks.”

 

The speedster watched as a genuine smile formed on Len’s face, causing Barry to smile back.

 

“Of course, Barry.”

 


End file.
